Buffalo Portable DVD Recorder

While Bluray and USB3 are where it’s at, it’s easy to forget that there’s a solid market for inexpensive legacy optical drives. And it’s into this market that Buffalo have today released a stylish portable DVD recorder for those of us who have laptops or netbooks that don’t have a CD/DVD drive.

It’s pretty much run of the mill spec-wise, handling all the formats (-R,-RW,+R,+RW, -RAM) and it can also manage dual layer disks. It’s only USB2 but that’s not a problem given the expected data rates. It is bus powered, though, and has a warning light to indicate when there’s insufficient power coming through the port.The USB cable clips neatly into the drive itself, so with no additional power cable, it’s a smart unit that can slip easily into any bag.

Comes with a CyberLink software suite for movie playback and other features.

Available soon from all good retailers. Pricing not yet announced but I’d expect it to be in-line with the older model at an RRP of £60, though you can easily find the drive online for less that half the RRP.

(If you have the money, Buffalo do have a portable optical drive that supports Bluray as well – currently available from Amazon for £182. Your call).